KISS’s Gene Simmons on AI in music industry: ‘Learn how to use it, otherwise it will use you’

Gene Simmons of KISS fame is urging the music world to get on board with artificial intelligence.

The “Rock and Roll All Nite” singer was asked about his stance on AI on NewsNation’s “The Hill with Blake Burman” on Tuesday, and whether the technology will be “good or bad” for music. The Hill and NewsNation are both owned by Nexstar Media Group.

“It doesn’t matter,” Simmons told Burman. “The future is here.”

“You’ve got to learn how to use it, otherwise it will use you,” Simmons, 77, said.

Several entertainers have protested against the “unlicensed use” of their work in the development of AI tools in recent years.

In 2024, Radiohead, the Cure and musicians from ABBA were among thousands of artists who signed on to a public letter objecting to the “unlicensed use of creative works for training generative AI,” calling it a “major, unjust threat to the livelihoods of the people behind those works.”

During his interview on “The Hill,” Simmons also reiterated his support for the American Music Fairness Act. The legislation would require radio corporations to pay performers for playing their music.

Noting that he testified last year before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Simmons said he’s also “spent some alone time” talking about the legislation with President Trump.

Simmons predicted that the bill “will pass,” telling Burman, “I’m going to be a big, angry bee in the butt of everybody who stands in its way, and I don’t care.”